Advertisement

A ‘Carnival Ride’ for Underwood

Share
Special to The Times

NASHVILLE -- Two years after the release of her 6-million-selling debut album, “Some Hearts,” Carrie Underwood insists her personal world hasn’t changed much. “Same house, same car, same dog,” she says with a laugh, sitting in a recording studio on this city’s famed Music Row.

But the 2005 “American Idol” winner’s career has lived up to the title of her sophomore album, “Carnival Ride,” which comes out today. When she auditioned for “Idol” (“I don’t know why I tried out,” she says), she was a quiet, farm-raised Oklahoma college student with ambitions of becoming a broadcast journalist.

Today, the 24-year-old has zoomed to major country-music stardom, all five of her singles, including “Jesus, Take the Wheel” and “Before He Cheats,” racing to No. 1 on the country chart. She’s captured two Grammys, including best new artist, an American Music Award, two People’s Choice awards, five Academy of Country Music awards, and two awards from the Country Music Assn., which has nominated her in three categories for this year’s Nov. 7 fete.

Advertisement

As with the metaphor of her new album -- “You get on the ride and take a deep breath, go up and come down, spin around, and it’s scary and exciting,” she says -- some of her trajectory has been bumpy. Country stars Faith Hill, Wynonna and LeAnn Rimes all stepped in spit when they jokingly (or not) reacted to the rookie’s success at the various award shows. Whether Nashville was ready for her, in short order the artists Underwood considers her heroes have become her peers.

That’s particularly apparent on “Carnival Ride.” In spots, especially on the first single, “So Small,” as well as on “All-American Girl” (two of the four songs Underwood co-wrote), the new album sounds remarkably like the work of Martina McBride, Underwood’s main influence when growing up in the pin dot of Checotah, Okla.

But “Carnival Ride” makes it clear, to paraphrase Underwood’s one co-writer on “Some Hearts,” she ain’t in Checotah anymore. While the hurriedly made first album had an organic feel and ingenue’s charm, “Carnival Ride” sounds far more studied, even as it also showcases Underwood’s growth as a vocalist. She considers it to be more country than her debut.

Her vision, she says, seeming relaxed and often breaking into a smile, was to “make music that I would love to hear if I were just driving down the road listening to the radio.” To that end, she was deeply involved in virtually all aspects of making the new album, and she held a writers’ retreat at Nashville’s venerated Ryman Auditorium, the former home of the Grand Ole Opry.

“Just to be in the dressing rooms that Patsy Cline and all the people that came before me got ready in was really cool,” says Underwood, outfitted this day in a white hoodie, green cargo pants and canvas camouflage slip-ons.

Given the runaway sales of Underwood’s first album, expectation for new material was high all around.

Advertisement

“All of the writers in and out of town were focused on getting on this record,” reports Sony BMG executive VP of artists and repertorie (A&R;) Renee Bell. In the end, Underwood and her label and management team largely went back to the well, choosing songs from many of the same bankable writers -- Hillary Lindsey, Brett James and Steve McEwan, among others -- who contributed to “Some Hearts.”

Producer Mark Bright, who handled half the duties on the first album, including all the singles, packs a lot more instrumentation into a far bigger sound this time around. Frenzied strings abound, which Underwood’s manager, “Idol” creator Simon Fuller, defends as providing the sophistication needed to match Underwood’s development as an artist.

The production, Fuller offers, is “just more tailored. It’s the difference between buying a dress off the rack or having one made especially for you. The second album feels like it’s just been made carefully for Carrie right now.” He added that with her hands-on approach, she seemed to be “enjoying becoming an artist” with “Carnival Ride.”

Underwood agrees that the album presents a more accurate representation of who she is, even as Bright pushed her hard in the studio. “We’ll go in with everything in a key that I think is fine, and then he’ll want to raise it a half-step, whole-step, step and a half, whatever. ‘So Small’ and ‘All-American Girl’ are surprisingly difficult to sing. ‘All-American Girl’ doesn’t ever come down, really.”

She might have been happier if it had given the challenge of singing it live. And sometimes less really is more.

“I’m kind of under the thought that not everything has to be like big and grand all the time. Just because I can doesn’t mean I should.” The sober war ballad “Just a Dream,” the banjo-and-steel-guitar rocker “Last Name” and a remake of Randy Travis’ “I Told You So,” with Vince Gill’s harmony vocals, balance that out. If “I Know You Won’t” would fit on any female pop album, “Flat on the Floor” rocks hard with a big drum sound.

Advertisement

“I don’t ever want to be pigeon-holed,” says Underwood, who counts ‘80s hair bands among her influences. “Hopefully, everybody can find something that they like. I think that was my goal.”

With country sales down 30% this year, Nashville’s bean counters are praying that a good chunk of the 6 million buyers of “Some Hearts” like her new sound enough to pass the cash register once more.

“Everybody kept pointing toward the fourth quarter and saying, ‘Well, we’ve got Rascal Flatts and Carrie Underwood coming,’” says Michael McCall, a writer-editor at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.

That kind of comment makes Bell bristle. “Still Feels Good,” the Flatts’ record released in late September, is the No. 1 album in the genre and has sold more than 800,000 copies in its first three weeks. But Bell insists: “In light of gas prices and housing issues facing our consumers, I don’t think you can pin the fate of country music to two records. It’s not fair or realistic. The success we hope to have with future singles will continue to help more people understand what country is all about.”

But what’s also on the line is whether “American Idol” winners can sustain their popularity once their association with the show starts to fade.

“In country music, even more than other genres, there’s the need to have some integrity and credibility about what you’re doing, so it’s good that Carrie’s writing songs, much as [‘AI’s’ first winner] Kelly Clarkson fought for that,” explains McCall. “Part of the world looks at people coming out of ‘American Idol’ a little askew, as, ‘Are they really artists, or just good karaoke singers?’ ” -- a question Underwood seems to lampoon with the name of her publishing company, Carrie-Okie Music.

Advertisement

“Some Hearts” recently bested Clarkson’s “Breakaway” as the biggest-selling album from the “Idol” stable. But where Clarkson has publicly squabbled with her record company over song choice and career direction, Underwood still enjoys a sweetheart relationship with her label. Fuller gives her the credit for that.

“On ‘Idol,’ Carrie was the country girl. She had her identity, and she knew where she was going musically, and where she came from,” he says. “Kelly is a fantastic singer, but I don’t think she knew who she was initially. She was finding out in full view of the public, while being a mega-star, and that was challenging for her.”

Still, just because she’s grounded doesn’t mean Underwood has no worries. “Crazy Dreams,” another of the new songs she co-wrote, includes the line: “I know how it feels to be afraid / Think it’s all gonna slip away.” The singer admits it reflects her vulnerability and fears about whether “Carnival Ride” could leave her hanging upside down.

“I am so lucky to get to do what I do, but people could hate this album. I could sell 10 copies, and no one would ever want to hear anything from me again.” The song, then, is a reminder to herself as well as others. “Hold on to the ride,” she says, “and hold on to the things you love, because you never know when they can be gone.”

Advertisement